Rants & Raves: Prattville cited as golfers' paradise

RAVE: For the naming of Prattville by MONEY magazine as the best place for golfers to retire. Prattville topped the list in the magazine's annual ranking, which was no surprise for those golfers who already live here.

"If golf and retirement go together like gin and tonic, Prattville may just be the Tanqueray 10 of golfing towns," the magazine gushed. "It is home to three championship courses and sits in the middle of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, a 486-hole, 26-course putters' paradise stretching over 11 Alabama sites." As if all that isn't enticing enough, there are 24 golf courses within 30 miles of the city, the magazine noted.

A golfer would be hard put to find anything even close to what our region offers anywhere else in the country. We urge golfers, good and bad, to take a look now. Why wait until you retire?

Is PSC using funds wisely?

RANT: For the dubious pride Twinkle Cavanaugh, president of the Public Service Commission, takes in turning over money to the General Fund. It's true the General Fund needs money, but we'd feel a lot better about this if the PSC were a more aggressive defender of the interests of consumers.

The PSC has sharply cut its expenses and expects to send the General Fund $12.5 million, but is that really a good thing? Could the PSC be using more of its funding, which comes from fees paid by regulated industries, to better serve the utility consumers of the state?

Cutting staff and other expenses solely for the sake of cutting costs is not necessarily beneficial to the people of the state. How confident can anyone be that Cavanaugh and fellow commissioners Jeremy Oden and Chip Beeker are devoting the proper resources to utility regulation?

ASU faculty honored

RAVE: For Alabama State University faculty members Karyn Scissum Gunn, associate provost for academic affairs and professor of microbiology; Sabita Saldanha, assistant professor of biology; and Sapna Jain, assistant professor of chemistry. The three were named National Academies Education Fellows by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Academy of Sciences.

The institute models scientific teaching principles and attracts leading faculty in the STEM disciplines from research universities across the nation.

Stills weren't worth it

RANT: For critics of the decision to disband a three-man team of agents from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board who had been tracking down moonshine stills around the state. In 18 months, they confiscated about 400 barrels of illegal whiskey.

The agents have been transferered to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency to work on other enforcement issues, which is a better use of their time. It's true that moonshine can be dangerous, but it's hard to justify devoting personnel solely to finding stills. Reports of stills will continue to be investigated, ALEA said.

Alabama is just too strapped for law enforcement agents to have a dedicated still-busting unit for what is a relatively minor concern.